Update 2.7 - Official Discussion Thread

Comments

@paintbeast. No. I meant the pop-up screen at the beginning of the Challenge showing you had a Head Start with x2 crates, Stars, rewards etc.. It won't let me post a pic here but I reported a problem in Bug Issues and the screenshot is there :-)

@painwalker
Just wondering why you think mixing epic and rare items has a better chance of producing and epic trait than using all epic items would.... Seriously, does that increase chances for better items? In my mind it would not. Or was that sarcasm in your post? I want to know because I would like to use whatever items give me the best chance at gaining the better outcome.

Just wondering why you think mixing epic and rare items has a better chance of producing and epic trait than using all epic items would.... Seriously, does that increase chances for better items? In my mind it would not. Or was that sarcasm in your post? I want to know because I would like to use whatever items give me the best chance at gaining the better outcome.

I believe what @painwalker is eluding to is since @avelardez used all epic (blue) components and it turned out to be a rare anyway he might have been better off mixing blues and greens and saving blues for another try.

If avelardez has 4 blue components and 4 green components; and he's already used 4 blue components and received a green badge maybe next time save some of the blue one's and mix and match. 2 blues and 2 greens although would give less of a chance the first time crafting will give more of a chance the second time crafting compared to using 4 greens.

This new update and this system is so garbage. Really, I use all epic items and you give me a Rare trait.

Garbage or not, the crafting screen tells you exactly what the range will be before you follow through with crafting. If you don't want a rare badge, wait until you have the components to get something with a minimum of epic.

You all realize that if you use all rare components and a badge, you have a chance to get between rare and epic.. right? I've actually made two epic items now from all rare components. Double check that a common wasn't placed by accident and then Rock and Roll

> @killzreality said:
> You all realize that if you use all rare components and a badge, you have a chance to get between rare and epic.. right? I've actually made two epic items now from all rare components. Double check that a common wasn't placed by accident and then Rock and Roll

How fantastic for you.

You also have a chance to make an uncommon with all rare, which is what keeps happening to me.

I'd love to know the probability of getting the same rarity or higher with badge construction vs the lower rarity. Because, in my own experience, it's the lowest possible rarity about 80% of the time and it's getting a bit frustrating.

You all realize that if you use all rare components and a badge, you have a chance to get between rare and epic.. right? I've actually made two epic items now from all rare components. Double check that a common wasn't placed by accident and then Rock and Roll

If you use all rare Components AND a rare Fragment, the best case scenario is epic. Worst case is uncommon.

I'd love to know the probability of getting the same rarity or higher with badge construction vs the lower rarity. Because, in my own experience, it's the lowest possible rarity about 80% of the time and it's getting a bit frustrating.

I've made 15 badges from components and fragments with a chance of common to rare, using only a mix of 1 and 2 star pieces.

Of those 15, 3 have been rare, 6 have been uncommon, and 6 have been common.

So for my very small window of data, that's 20 percent for max level, 40 percent for minimum level and 40 percent for right in the middle.

I haven't made badges. Do I have to use badges in order to complete The Distance?

Theoretically, no. You don't even have to build the Scavenger and Craft buildings. But by the accounts from NG staff, it will get extremely hard, and badges will help. I've crafted a bunch but only equipped one. I can't afford 15 gold to move them around survivors, so once they're on somebody, I intend to leave them there. I'm waiting to see what things look like and make my decisions then. We'll know more Tuesday when we can actually see this new game mode.

Now if this gets me in trouble so be it I don't really care but im not trying to be malcious here Im trying to have an adult conversation and sometimes the truth hurts.

I know games releases very rarely run smoothly but lessons are ment to be learned from mistakes yet release after release are beset with problems, the same problems in fact.

Obvious things completely overlooked, an example of this is been able to add more survivors an active distance event. It's so obvious yet they didn't see it and then use wrestling which isnt an exploit its the use of a poorly thought through gameplay mechanic.

Then we have major areas of the game which should have been priority 1 fixes like leveling up earns less stars in challenge again due to poor design. Same issue with outpost you level it up your at a disadvantage and also been able to see defenders before opening the gate in certain maps yet all of these are still outstanding with no word if they are even working on them.

We now also have our 3rd major star glitch going on currently too so the leaderboards which needed resetting twleve months ago become even more of a sham.

All the above isnt my opnion either its all fact just search though this very forum,I really want NG to improve I want them to give us something good I love turn based games and I love TWD, yet I sadly feel that its now a lost cause.

The Distance for me was make or break for the game, it was heralded as a new game mode by NG but its not really is it. Its the same gameplay we have been doing week in week out since the game opened its servers. A shiney new map screen does not neww gameplay make. Dropping a gazzilion special walkers haphazardly all over the map not only is poor design but demonstrates lack of understanding on how to structure a difficulty curve. The last and only new gameplay introduced in the game to this date has been outpost.

Badges another addtion which isnt new gameplay just adds more and more frustration to the player as drop rates are so low and then you get jipped on the badge range even if you use legandary everytjing. We play games to have fun yet this system just adds another layer of frustration on the other many layers of frustration such as heroes dilution.

There are so many things you could do which are genuine new gameplay within the game engine they have yet Its the same old, open the gate/boxes kill all gameplay again and again and again from NG. The game is really in a depressing state right now and only a creative spark to kick the NG designers up the bum into actually designing something genuinely new is going to change it.

I waited until now to put out some comments about 2.7 to get a full impression of all changes to the game. So after two weeks of the distance, finishing the camp upgrades, and taking in the other changes made, here are my thoughts: (apologies if harping on repeat issues);

Crafting/Badges: Concept: B - I give you a B as other games have this so its not really original enough to earn an A. Implementation: F - Par for the course with NG; the whole crafting thing lacks any transparency and this is the first implementation of a crafting/forging process where you can get lower level item than the components you used to make it that I've run across in games.Suggestion: Go back to the drawing board on the crafting process. This is how the best forging/crafting system I have used worked:1) You could make the components (level 1 items took 4 hours and level 2 items took 12 hours). 2) You could take 5 level 1 items and make 1 level 2 item and take 5 level 2 items and make 1 level 3 item and so on up to level 5 items. 3) When forging an item; the end result was shown with the modifiers you got so you could change components until you got the end result you wanted. 4) If you mixed components of different levels, the game showed you the % chance of what level the end component would be. Some liked rolling the dice and would mix components. Others like the 100% guarantee. This process satisfied everyone and never heard one complaint about the crafting process at all. Also, giving us the opportunity to knowingly craft the hero traits would be a bonus. Pros: This adds another dimension to the game and gives us some additional flexibility with our survivors. It will also help lower level players be more competitive with higher level players in outpost.Cons: I see this as another widening of the gap between the ftp and pay to win players and will make it more of a challenge to stay competitive. However, if you take my suggestion above, ftp players can still be competitive over time because they have an ftp way of creating components, they just won't get them as quick as the ptw players.Caveat: I haven't forged/crafted/made any badges as I'm waiting to see what that "coming soon" portion of the craftsman is. If it is a way to merge lower level components to higher level ones, waiting is prudent. If not, no harm.

The Distance:Concept: B - It also has been done before, so no A.Implementation: B - The mass spawns of walkers on each map and the gas cost for each map are the only things keeping me from rating it an A. It is a challenge that will be difficult to beat, especially for ftp players but this is supposed to be difficult as we the players have been asking for something tough to tackle. However, the carryover of charges and damage, etc. was done well along with the maps. The rewards aren't that bad either. Having two a week (one during normal work days and one on the weekend) is also good so everyone has an opportunity to play it even though the weekend one comes in the middle of the challenge.Suggestions: Reduce the number of walkers in the mass spawns (don't eliminate it) and cut the gas cost to 2. Consider extending the challenge a day to account for the Distance being open during it, especially if you don't lower the gas cost.Pros: New stuff that the majority won't solve quickly.Cons: For the ftp, the weekend day hurts when you have to choose which event to spend gas on.Note: Please don't mess with the wrestler trait. I know it has been mentioned as a "cheat" to get through higher levels of this, but it is not a "cheat". It is a strategy, one that has been part of this game for a very long time and has never been addressed. Granted, it should have had level cap where it doesn't work for zombies x level higher than the survivor put on it ages ago but it didn't, so those that are complaining about it, get over it. I personally don't use it, but I have no issue with those that do especially since it is working as it was designed and because it is not a programming bug.

Challenge - PassesConcept: A - I haven't seen something like this before.Implementation: A - While it probably doesn't please everyone, it is a good compromise solution for those players, especially high level, who didn't like the low level grind but still having it there for those that like having it there for the easy way of using up those "use all scout team" type missions for gold when they haven't invested in those types of survivors.Note: I took the time to track stars and you actually get a few more when using the passes than if you didn't have any, which is good. Personally, I wish we had the option of using them instead of being forced to use them, but I get why NG used the forced method.

Bug and Issue Fixes Implementation: D Still way to many issues left unaddressed (hero token dilution, number of heros, glitchy freeman, etc.) at the core of the game in this stage of its life. Still getting the hung game on the initial splash screen at "gathering supplies" where it just sits and does nothing until I clear the cache. This happens way to much (at least two or three times a day) for a game of this age, and no, its not my device or internet connection where every other app doesn't experience this or anything similar, before, after or when it is happening with this game.

The distance was intended to be the new thing to separate the good players (or, admittedly, the ones who spent the most money) from the best players. The wrestler trait takes away all that. I know people who all they do is use single phone calls, put a wrestler armor on the hero they get (of any level), send them alone against a zombie, wrestle it down, on ANY level, and, if it survives, move on to the next one. When that hero dies, he flees, replaces with another one star phonecall guy, puts the wrestler armor on it, and then repeats the process. If he runs out of hero slots, he can scrap them and get a new one for phones.

This way the whole thing (except the freemen battles) are finished with ONE single trait. (You easily complete the distance this way)

The question you have to ask yourself then is: is this the way the game was intended to be played? When you can win ANY battle against ANY level with ANY level hero, because of one single trait, it is no longer a strategy, but an exploit of a bug, and in most MMO's people will get a warning for abusing it and then get banned.

Think about this: nothing matters! Not legendary sirvivors, not how many stars you have gathered, not the equipment, not the badges, only ONE trait. This is the "strategy" that you are defending.

@European
I'm not going to disagree with you but I think calling it "an exploit of a bug" is going too far.
Also it's near impossible to complete The Distance using "one single trait" on every map.
A combination of traits, skill, luck and experience is needed.

Here's another obvious trade off for abusing the wrestler ability; burning phones for disposable cannon fodder is a terrible way of using an ultimately rare resource within the game. Sure, you can fill your intial roster from the free daily calls, but to refill your roster mid-Distance, is costly.

Add to that, that this 'strategy' all but demands that you pay for a gas booster, it's not ultimately viable for F2P players.

So all in all, a pure wrestle+repeat run through, can be very expensive to execute, and in my case, definitely not worth it, especially multiple times every week. Doesn't matter if it actually works or not, its not worth the trade off.

That being said, I have no issues with anyone actually implementing it. Very much, "to each, his own". It doesnt affect my game at all, so if someone else is willing to fund future developement of this game, more power to them!!!

I did it once and probably won't do it again, but might do just for fun some time. I agree that as a regular exercise, blowing those phones is not the best use of them. For me, I had a stockpile anyway in case any kind of good phone event ever comes along. So I used a few to beat The Distance once.

As for gas, I didn't find that too much a problem, and I'm totally ftp. I saved gas after the challenge ended, except for 5 spent on the episode missions. Then I bought a gas refill with gold only a few times (three I think?) during The Distance. I get so much gold from crates and quests that it was no big deal.

As a one-off I think it was fun and worth using the phones (I estimate I used 30 out of my stash of about 1000). I called maybe three survivors beforehand, and another 20-some during. But I agree I won't do that regularly, certainly not more than once a week!

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